Figure in Denny Case Arrested in Alleged Assault : Police: Antoine Miller is accused of trying to shoot a motorist. He pleaded guilty to committing a felony attack during 1992 riots.

Antoine Eugene Miller, who became a symbol of the Los Angeles riots for his role in the attack on truck driver Reginald O. Denny, was arrested Friday on suspicion of trying to shoot a motorist just three blocks from a flash point of the riots at Florence and Normandie avenues.

Miller, 22, is accused of trying to fire a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol at a driver from point-blank range after an argument, said Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker of the Los Angeles Police Department. The gun jammed and did not go off, Kroeker said.

“He got in an argument with two African American males, who were seated in a car,” LAPD spokeswoman Sandra Castello said of the incident, which occurred last Sunday. “He ran into a house and came back out with a . . . chrome-plated pistol. He walked up and pointed the gun point-blank and pulled the trigger, but it was unable to fire.”

Apparently, Miller fired the gun before he got to the driver’s side of the car near 71st Street and Normandie Avenue, police said. The target of the attempted shooting picked up an unknown number of bullet casings at the scene and took them to the 77th Street Division police station, Kroeker said.

LAPD detectives arrested Miller at 7:10 a.m. Friday after raiding a home where he was staying, Castello said. He was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and held without bail at the 77th Street station, police said.

Miller, one of four primary defendants in the Denny trial, had been charged with premeditated attempted murder in that case but pleaded guilty in November, 1993, to lesser charges of felonious assault and two related misdemeanor counts. In exchange for his plea, he was given no prison time and placed on 27 months of probation.

At the time, Supervising Superior Court Judge Cecil J. Mills repeatedly stressed to Miller that he would not hesitate to send him to prison for violation of probation if Miller became “significantly involved” in any crime.

“You will be carrying the key to the penitentiary around in your pocket, young man,” Mills said.

Miller’s probation had been scheduled to end in early 1995.

Seville Colston, who with her husband Greg raised Miller for much of his childhood, expressed surprise at the arrest, describing Miller as “a troubled little kid with problems, but he wasn’t real bad.”

A talented artist who recently had shown some of his drawings to the Walt Disney studios, Miller tended to be shy and to hide his feelings, Colston said.

“He always made light of things,” she said. “That’s why it’s shocking to me that he even had a 9-millimeter whatever it was. I’ve never known him to play with guns. I’ve never known that side of him.”

Greg Colston, who runs an auto repair shop at 69th Street and Vermont Avenue, said Miller had been spending much of his time there, visiting. Greg Colston said he learned of the arrest late Friday and theorized that Miller may have been the target of others who wanted to do him harm in some way.

“I can’t believe it--I can’t believe it,” Greg Colston said. “He comes by my shop all the time. I’ve been trying to keep him in the right direction. I don’t believe this (stuff) that happened.”

Miller’s attorney in the Denny case, James R. Gillen, could not be reached for comment.

In videotapes of the Denny beating in 1992, Miller was seen opening the door of Denny’s truck before Denny was pulled from it and severely beaten. However, lawyers from both sides agreed that Miller committed no acts of violence against Denny. The videotapes also showed Miller going through Denny’s pockets later, as he lay on the ground.

“I never in my life beat on nobody,” Miller said after his arrest.

He ultimately pleaded guilty to felony assault with a deadly weapon for throwing a metal-encased telephone book at the car in which Marisa Bejar was riding at Florence and Normandie, opening a gash in her head and showering her 7-month-old baby with glass. The two misdemeanor charges involved receiving a stolen purse and taking papers from Denny’s truck.

After Miller’s arrest Friday, one activist--a block-club captain in a Neighborhood Watch program near Florence and Normandie--polled others in her group on the alleged incident. No one seemed surprised by it, the activist said, declining to be named for fear of repercussions.

“We have got to do something to get these types of people off the street--(the ones) that are going to be running for their guns and wiping out people,” the block club captain said. “It makes life so cheap.”